On Monday, Cineworld announced that all of its locations in the U.K., as well as all of its Regal Cinemas locations in the United States, would be temporarily closing once again due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. With no event films on the horizon, and the state of New York still not permitting theaters to open, Cineworld felt like the best option was to close the doors and wait for a better time. AMC, Regal’s biggest rival in the U.S., is opting instead to remain open.
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AMC Theatres confirmed on Tuesday morning that it isn’t planning on closing any of its locations in the near future. Since beginning its reopening process about a month ago, AMC has roughly 80% of its locations operational once again.
A big reason why AMC believes it can weather the storm is the deal it made with Universal, allowing the studio to release films on video on-demand services just a short time after making their theatrical debut. This will allow AMC to play Blumhouse’s Freaky on November 3rd, followed by DreamWorks’ The Croods: A New Age on November 25th. Universal can put those movies online for purchase or rental as early as 17 days after they arrive in theaters, thanks to the agreement with AMC.
Additionally, there are a couple of smaller films arriving in theaters in the near future that may help AMC’s cause, including the Robert De Niro comedy The War With Grandpa, which opens in theaters on Friday.
“Fortunately for AMC, our groundbreaking agreement with Universal Studios announced earlier this summer puts AMC in a position where we can open our theaters when others may feel the need to close,” AMC chairman-CEO Adam Aron said in a statement.
“We are fully comfortable showing Universal films in our theaters, even as they implement premium video on demand as we have mutually agreed. This is because AMC will share in premium revenues coming from their early availability in the home,” he continued.
Have you been back to any theaters since they reopened? Let us know in the comments!
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